What Mr. Welwyn remembered will never be known, for at that moment the door opened, slowly but inexorably, and Grandma Banks appeared. She advanced into the room with a few uncertain and tottering steps, peered round her, and nodded her head with great vigour. "I thought so," she observed triumphantly. "Company! No wonder I were sent to bed." There was a paralysed silence. Mr. Welwyn was the first to recover his presence of mind. He advanced upon his infirm but irrepressible relative shaking a playful finger. "This is very, very naughty," he announced reproachfully. "What will the doctor say?" [Illustration: "THIS IS VERY NAUGHTY," HE ANNOUNCED REPROACHFULLY] "Eh?" enquired Grandma. "You were told to stay in bed, you know, dear," said Mrs. Welwyn, coming to her husband’s assistance. "I were n’t never told no such thing by nobody," replied the old lady explicitly. Tilly, avoiding Sylvia’s eye, decided to make the best of the situation. "Well, now you are here, Granny," she interposed brightly, "you must come and sit snugly by the fire and have some tea. ’Melia, bring that little three-legged table and put it by Granny’s chair, and bring a footstool." The Welwyns, swiftly taking their cue from Tilly, bestirred themselves in fulsome desperation, and in a few minutes Grandma Banks, a trifle flustered by her sudden and most unusual popularity, found herself tucked into her armchair by the assiduous efforts of the entire family. "This is my grandmother, Mrs. Banks," said Tilly to Mr. Mainwaring, who happened to be sitting nearest. "I trust, Mrs. Banks," began Mr. Mainwaring with a deferential bow, "that you are not allowing your sense of hospitality to overtax your strength." "Eh?" enquired Mrs. Banks, as ever. "She is rather deaf," explained Tilly in an undertone. "Don’t strain your voice by talking to her too long." "The gentleman," announced Grandma unexpectedly, "shall talk to me as long as he likes." "Aha, Tilly, old lady! That’s one for you," cried the watchful Percy, and the Welwyn family laughed, hurriedly and tumultuously. Grandma’s octogenarian heart glowed. Social success had come to her at last. She began to enjoy herself hugely. Tilly cast an anxious glance round her. Grandma’s entrance had sensibly lowered the temperature of the tea-party, and worse threatened. Already Lady Adela was exhibiting a tendency to edge towards the fireplace. It was only too plain that she contemplated yet another "cosy chat." Tilly decided to fall back upon the one trustworthy person in the room. "Granny," she said, taking Dicky by the arm and leading him forward, "I want to introduce Mr. Dick Mainwaring. You have heard of him, have n’t you?" Mrs. Banks surveyed Dicky over her spectacles. "Yes," replied Mrs. Banks with deliberation, "I ’ave ’eard of you. You and our Tilly are walking out."